Happier Holidays: How to Pick the Perfect Tech Gift

Believe it or not, holiday season is right around the corner. And if you’re stuck on what to buy, consider buying a tech gift. There is such a wide range of options available, it’s easy to find gifts that aren’t just fun, but can also help the lives of everyone from your tech-obsessed teenage daughter to even your tech-challenged dad.

Here are some tips to help you pick a great technology gift to make for a more pixel-happy holiday.

Get a Head Start

Now is the right time to start thinking about which tech gifts you want to buy, as options across the board tend to be in high demand. Remember how the NES Classic sold out near-instantaneously last year? Do your research ahead of time—look for the best Black-Friday deals, and make sure you know when products go on sale so you can jump on them quickly.

Consider Ease-of-Use

“Who’s receiving this gift?” is one of the most important things to keep in mind when shopping. While an Amazon Echo might seem like a fun idea to you, it could cause endless headaches for Grandpa. Try starting with something simpler, like upgraded headphones or a pair of high-quality touchscreen gloves.

Pay Attention to the Features

When you’re deciding between different models, weigh the importance of various features. For example, some might enjoy the streamlined Fitbit Flex 2 or Alta, while others might want the heart-rate feature on the Fitbit Alta HR or Charge 2. Many companies make this evaluation easy, with “compare models” charts or quizzes.

Weigh the Future Costs

Here’s another consideration: Are you gifting something that someone will pay for in the future? If you give an iPad (or anything with cellular capability), they’ll likely end up shelling out money for data most months.

And, it’s not just the month-to-month projected costs to consider. We become dependent on tablets, which house digital content like photos, videos and music. What are the costs when a tech-gift breaks, or when it runs out of memory after only a year? Will they need to buy a new tablet, or an expensive cloud-storage service?

Holiday shopping can be tough, but throw in the complications of tech buying and you could have quite a challenge on your hands. These tips should help ensure that you’re met with happy faces this holiday season!

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Tech gifts are really great to give and receive but indeed, you should be careful with what you give to whom. I have the amazon echo for example and I love it to bits, it makes my life so much easier. But I bought it myself. However, the echo dot is quite cheap, especially with the launch of the new echo.

This is the first time I’ve read “a how to pick gifts” that actually makes sense. Finding the right gift is never easy, especially when it comes to technology. It’s often quite an expensive gift and I never even thought about the hidden costs of ownership, so thanks a ton for that

Couldn’t agree more on this. Budget and the use of the specific item is what I am looking for. Plus the future costs so that we also know how to maintain it. Sometimes buying it may not be practical, it may be cheaper but very costly for future maintenance or repair.